Mr. Botts was clearly uncomfortable giving Mr. Castle bad news. He said, “You see, that’s just it. Judge Watkins is a state judge, a circuit judge. I’ve got to get to a federal judge in San Antonio.”
Vernon Castle was staggered. He shouted, “San Antonio! My God, that will take you twenty-four hours!”
Longarm said mildly, “It’s gonna take you a little longer than that. Federal judges don’t just vacate other judges’ warrants without good cause. There’ll have to be some correspondence between that judge and the one in Omaha. I think that you’d better just settle down for a nice stay.”
Vernon Castle stared at his lawyer. “Clarence, does this man know what he is talking about?”
Botts ducked his head. “I am afraid so, Mr. Castle.”
Across the way, Billy Bob was up, gripping the bars of his cell with his huge hands. He shook the door so that it clanked and rattled. He said, “Goddamnit, Paw. We got to get out of here. I can’t stand being locked up like this. I can’t stand it. You’ve gotta get us out of here.”
Vernon Castle looked at him. “Billy Bob,” he said, “I don’t need none of that right now. You settle down. You hush, you hear? Settle down like Glenn is. Let me work on this.” He turned his attention back to his lawyer. He said with menace in his voice, “Botts, you contact every important man I know and you cascade that judge in San Antonio with telegrams from those people. You be on the next train outta here for San Antonio. Do you see me? Do you see the fact that I am standing in a jail cell where God knows what vermin have been? And this man”—he jabbed his finger maliciously at Longarm—“is responsible. I want it stated right here and now that I will have this sonofabitch’s badge, if not his head.”
Longarm said calmly, “Better walk easy there, Mr. Castle. You are coming mighty close to threatening a law officer.”
Vernon Castle said, “You go to hell.” He switched back to the lawyer. “Clarence, get moving! Now! Do whatever you have to do, just get us out of here!”
Clarence Botts turned to Longarm. He said, “I need that warrant.”
Longarm laughed. “Not very damn likely,” he said. “I’ll let you write out a copy of it if you want, but I’m not about to give you this official copy. This is the same as if it were taken from the hand of the judge himself.”
Botts said, “All right, let’s go into the sheriff’s office so I can make a copy.”
Longarm and the lawyer walked out to where the sheriff was sitting morosely at his desk. When he understood what the lawyer wanted, he provided writing materials and watched as Mr. Botts wrote out the telegram meticulously, word for word. When he was through, Mr. Botts folded the copy and put it in his pocket.
Botts said to the sheriff, “Please, please. Try to settle Mr. Castle down. Make him just as comfortable as you possibly can. I’ll be back just as soon as I can.”
Sheriff Smith glared at Longarm. “There ain’t much I can do,” he said. “This is the sonofabitch that is making him uncomfortable.”
Longarm said, “I believe that’s about the thirtieth time that I have been called a sonofabitch in the last hour. When it gets to fifty, I may go to doing something about it.”
Mr. Botts said to Longarm, “Marshal, you may have bitten off a little more than you can chew.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that, Mr. Botts. A lot of people have told me that I have a big mouth.”
Longarm watched as the frantic, plump little lawyer hurried out the door. Then he turned his eyes on the sheriff. “Sheriff Smith,” he said, “I am going to leave right now and I want to make one thing real clear to you. When I come back—and I could come back anytime night or day—those Castle people had better be where I left them just now. If they ain’t, you’re gonna replace them. Do you understand me?”
Sheriff Smith looked at Longarm with venom in his eyes. He said, “For right now, and just for right now, you are holding the best cards. But there will be a new deal soon enough.”
“Maybe so, and maybe not. This may be the last hand for all you know.”
The sheriff said, “You forget one thing, Marshal. You ain’t but one man. This town is solid behind the Castles.”
“And you forget just one thing, Sheriff. I ain’t just one man—there’s a hundred and twenty troopers out there at the fort. I can requisition every damn one of them and put this town under martial law if I want to. That would include you.” He leaned toward the sheriff. “Do you understand me?”
The sheriff turned away and walked to the other side of his office, staring out. He said, “I can’t tell you to get out of here, but I wish the hell you would.”
Longarm said, “Well, for once we are in agreement.” He turned on his heel and went out the front door.
Even though it was coming dark, he rode straight to the fort and went in to see the captain, this time wearing his badge. In a very brief time he told the captain what had transpired.
Captain Montrose said, “And you think it’s this Virgil Castle?”
“He’s the best suspect I got. For a while, I thought it was an old man that lives about a mile from here named Clell Martin. Do you know him?”
The captain said, “Yes, he hates soldiers. I think he’s an old Johnny Reb. I never considered he’d do something like this. He’s all stove up from what I’ve heard. But I don’t understand why you think that Virgil Castle would do this. Because he’s simpleminded?”
“You’re not going to believe this, but I think he thinks he is an Indian. I really believe that he is still fighting the horse soldiers.” Captain Montrose looked at him incredulously. “You mean, you think a demented half-wit has been shooting my men because he is still fighting the Indian wars?”
“Well, this is an Indian fort, isn’t it?”
“Don’t talk rubbish, Marshal. We don’t have any Indians around here. My God.” He stood up and said, “Well, what do you want us to do? Do you want me to restrict my troopers to the garrison?”
Longarm said, “Captain, I’ve been thinking about that, giving it considerable thought, and I am of two minds. One, if you don’t have any troopers out, I can’t catch him in the act. But if you do, he is liable to kill somebody else. I’m going to try to watch him—that’s the reason I left him out of jail, so I could watch him. But I don’t know if I can keep that close an eye on him. He runs along on foot as far as I can tell. This is rough country. I’m not as young as I used to be. If I try to follow him on a horse, he is gonna see me. What do you think? Do you want to risk your troopers?”
Captain Montrose thought about it for a few moments. He said, “Why don’t I restrict them for a couple of days and see what happens.”
Longarm said, “Well, I ain’t going to be able to tell much if you do that. I need to see if he will go for a position where he could shoot a trooper coming from town or going.”
The captain said, “I don’t understand why you didn’t arrest the other Castle family.”
Longarm said, “I had no real reason. I have no real suspicion of them. I have created enough trouble for myself arresting Vernon Castle and his two sons just to cut him off and isolate him. I really couldn’t work up a healthy appetite for arresting James Castle. His children are young. My plan now, though, is that I’m going to go to work on Vernon and try to make him give Virgil up. I don’t know if he suspects Virgil of doing this, or if he knows he’s doing this or what, but he’s not liking that jail at all. So I am going to be pounding on him and trying to convince him that the boy will be better off—I say boy, but really he is a man—that Virgil would be better off in one of those asylums than running around the country shooting people because sooner or later, someone is gonna wind up shooting him.”